Temporary calm in Gaza did not stop critics of Israel’s military assaults and defenders of that country from screaming at each other on the lawn of Queen’s Park on Saturday.

Dozens of police with stowed riot gear kept the two sides apart. Violence seemed about to break out at the lawn’s south end, past a metal police barricade, but officers pushed both sides back and mounted officers formed a barrier.

“Stop killing children,” and “Free, free Palestine” were among the chants as thousands of anti-Israel protesters, some holding large photos of dead children, marched down University Ave.

Toronto family doctor Abeer Majeed, 34, said the Canadian government must do what it can to stop the missile strikes that Israel says are needed to stop Gaza’s Hamas government from firing rockets at Israeli communities.

“The bombing and the massacre have to stop,” she said. “We are criticizing Israeli policy and holding them to account as an occupying state, bombing schools and hospitals.”

A 12-hour truce is “not enough — Israel must immediately lift the siege,” that keeps Palestinians in Gaza, she said.

On the other side of the barricade, a smaller but sizable counterdemonstration included young men shouting “Terrorists” and “Shame on you — you support Hamas.”

About a metre back, Julius Ciss, a tall man in a prayer shawl, silently watched the furious back-and-forth.

“I wanted to see firsthand the Palestinian protest and witness the hate speech (against Israel) that I’m hearing,” said Ciss. “Israel has every right to stop nine years of rocket fire and if this is the price we pay, so be it.”

Many Canadians are getting news of the conflict from reporters who show the damage inflicted by Israeli missiles but fail to provide the context of “years and years and years of aggression,” Ciss said.